Neratius Marcellus was a friend of Pliny the Younger and their letters discussing the Roman Principate are recorded. Pliny requested that Marcellus make Suetonius a tribune in Britain and although Suetonius eventually declined the post, the story does indicate that Marcellus was able to make military appointments easily through the network of patronage and apparently without consulting the army.[3] There is evidence that there was unrest in Northern Britain during Marcellus' governorship which resulted in the frontier becoming the line of the Stanegate.